3-Part Source Integration Technique

Name ______Period ____

AVID Standard 6.2a Synthesize content and ideas from several sources

Where college students tend to fail, in terms of academic research papers, is their overuse of citations and lack of discussion of the cited text. Their research resembles a list of quotes strung together with little or no discussion of the importance of the included quotes. Using the 3-part Source Integration Technique, you can avoid this pitfall when writing research papers of your own. There are three basic parts.

Part 1: Source & Author: This part tells where you found your information and who wrote it.

Part 2: Citation Verb, Citation & Page #: This part provides a paraphrase, summary, or direct quotation. It begins with a citation verb (see chart below) and ends with a parenthetical citation.

Citation Verbs
argues / asserts / concludes / contends / discusses / points out that
examines / explores / focuses on / maintains / mentions / highlights the fact that
notes / reports / states / suggests / emphasizes / has determined that

Part 3: Citation’s Importance: Comment on why this part of the text is important, relevant to the prompt, or significant in some other way.

Sample 1 / Part 1:
Source & Author / Part 2:
Citation Verb, Citation & Page # / Part 3:
Citation’s Importance
The American Immigration Lawyers Association , in their article “Immigrants Are a Vital Component of Society,” / + / maintains that immigrants in America make every effort to assimilate (64). / + / This position refutes a common belief held by critics of immigration – foreign-born Americans refuse to learn English and do not embrace “the American way of life.
Sample 2 / In the article “The Threat of Terrorism is Being Reduced,” by John Ashcroft, the U.S. attorney general / + / claims that “terrorism is relatively inexpensive to conduct, and devilishly difficult to counter” (Viewpoint 27). / + / This is troublesome. America is spending billions of dollars on the “War on Terror” and using its military might to fight an elusive enemy.
Sample 3 / In his article, “Global Warming is a Serious Threat to Humanity’s Future,” Mark Lynas, the author of High Tide: News from a Warming World, / + / argues that in other parts of the world, flooding, drought, and sea-level rise are forcing people to leave their homes, creating environmental refugees (123). / + / It is important for us to consider this point because mass displacement of human life could have severe consequences for communities all around the globe.

3-Part Source Integration Templates

Template 1

______, in ______

(author’s first and last name) (source information: article, book, autobiography, etc.)

______that ______

(citation verb)

______.

(page number of source)

It is important to consider ______

______.

Example: Nelson Mandela, in his autobiography, explains that there were many “White, Indian, and Colored” people involved in the anti-apartheid struggle (352). It is important to consider this point because we often think that apartheid was only opposed to black people.

Template 2

In the ______, ______

(type of source) (title of source)

______, in ______

(author’s first and last name) (information about the author)

______that ______

______.

This is a valuable point. ______.

(explain why the point is valuable)

Example: In the article “The Threat of Terrorism Is Being Reduced,” by John Ashcroft, the U.S. attorney general claims that “terrorism is relatively inexpensive to conduct, and devilishly difficult to counter” (27). This is a valuable point. America is spending billions of dollars on the “War on Terror” and using military might to fight an elusive enemy.